How is the product going to be licensed?

[Shamil]

We've been told that xenForo is under a commercial license, and the pricing scheme will be competitive to that of vBulletin and IP.B.

However, do you think xenForo would benefit more from having a "subscription" style system, such as the prior used by vBulletin. i.e. paying for updates/support?

 

[Forsaken]

I honestly prefer the vB3 licensing system, as I honestly trust that model much more then IB's pay-per-version, which seems to be another method to nickel and dime customers.

My stance on any add-ons offered for xenForo is that I hope things like gallery/CMS will be included as part of the core package, or will be offered as a low-priced add-on, and not have to pay a premium for each feature offered in-part by other solutions.

I am already prepared to move my newest project to xenForo, as it fits my needs much better then vB4 (And vB3 for that matter) ever can.

 

[Sami]

Pretty serious matter actually. It can't just change all of a sudden.

 

[Shamil]

Pretty serious matter actually. It can't just change all of a sudden.

It did for vBulletin users.

 

[AlexandrosD]

I'd like a full license in the price of the vB3 leased.

 

[Sami]

It did for vBulletin users.

Exactly. That adds pressure to get it right.

 

[Mr_Bob]

As a customer, not necessarily as a businessman, this is what I would like to see:

1. A reasonably priced initial owned license fee (maybe even a discount for the first 500 to buy a license, as was suggested elsewhere)
2. A yearly (not 6 month) renewal fee of somewhere around $30-$40 (or whatever the times call for; I know you guys were great with the traditional VB license structure so I have no worries TBH).
3. For additional products, charge a fee for the new product, but IF it can be avoided, try to avoid additional renewal costs. If they are unavoidable, for the love of all good things keep it low (this is a bad economy here in the US after all ).

 

[Floris]

vB and IPB get pirated for a reason. they are over priced. Why not set a decent price that is affordable for alot of people, rather than just a few.

You'd end up making much more money.

If vBulletin was $5, it will still be pirated. I think your argument is invalid and based on assumption. I would easily pay $250 for vBulletin 3 license type.

If you take your site serious, you take the software you use serious too.

 

[Sador]

Hopefully not implying expansive always means better.

 

[DarkGizmo]

I agree with Floris. I'd like to see old vB3 pricing or less as stated before, no renewal fees for add-ons but just for the core product, have it 1 renewal fee for all products if possible

 

[Floris]

I think everybody should also realize this is just a first build and they are still finalizing their code and features, and their web site pages, etc. Let the company take shape while we demo and test the /community/ here and give feedback (especially bugs).

Asking for a license/price is logical, everybody wants to know, they of course know people want to know. But all in due time, I am sure. As you can see by alpha 1 already, it's worth the wait.

 

[Brandon_R]

True, it's definitly worth the wait. And nice new avatar floris.

 

[Floris]

True, it's definitly worth the wait. And nice new avatar floris.

I went to gravatar web site, changed it, waited .. and xenforo auto updated. Great avatar feature! Another great sign it's a modern solution.

 

[Sador]

(What is gravatar anyway?)

 

[Brandon_R]

www.gravatar.com

It's a way to sync your avatar to websites.

 

[Disjunto]

Gravatar is awesome

 

[AdrianH]

Although I'm not saying vB's way was better, let's just look at how this ads up:

140 + 35 + 80 + 20 + 50 + 30 = 355 dollar.
25 + 5 + 8 + 12 + 5 + 6 = 61 dollar each year.

That's rather expansive, in my humble opinion.

Rather, why not give discounts depending on what amount of products you take? Pay relatively more for each product if you only take Forums + CMS for example, while paying relatively less for each product if you take multiple products. Same for the annual renewal fee. Give a discount when you get multiple products. And not just when you buy them all in once, but also if you bought two and then later decide to add another one.

Personally, I think that would be way more interesting for customers.

But you may be missing the point that with the IPB model (and indeed the old vB structure) users are not at any time forced to pay for annual upgrades. So the 30+ 50+ cost you refer to does necessarily apply . IPB give discounts,the more features you buy the greater the discount, their other fees only apply if you choose to pay for support and upgrades.You can go years without upgrading and pay when you want/need to move to a new version.
The new structure at vB sees people paying $285 up front for an unfinished product which could conceivably be dropped in 18 months time, you are then faced with paying another $2-300 for vB5.

My choice would be a price for the basic forum, ability to buy the extra features that I want to use and an annual upgrade/access fee as per the old vB regime,many of us used to buy extra upgrades in advance,some members had 3-4 years worth at a time which supported the company.

 

[AdrianH]

I'd like a full license in the price of the vB3 leased.

Well you can be very sure that you are not going to be getting your wish granted on that one.

 

[RickM]

I find it pretty funny that some people think that 'early adopters' will get a license for $45. Firstly, Mike did say that they were NOT planning on offering cheaper licenses for early adopters - the comment was that they would LOOK at a sale AFTER its been released.

If you think you'll get XF for anything under $200 then you shouldn't be here. If you value your site, you would be willing to pay the people who are making your site possible a decent price. Personally I would be more than happy to pay $500 for an owned license with a $100 support/updates fee yearly if in return I was getting a product as solid as vB3.

 

[Rhydian]

I always believed in valuing the company rather then the product, the product can always be improved but it needs the company to improve it. I would happily pay $200+ if I knew that the staff valued their customers and are willing to support them full(even if they own a mac )

*hides behind a PC from floris*

 

[Erik]

Personally I would be more than happy to pay $500 for an owned license with a $100 support/updates fee yearly if in return I was getting a product as solid as vB3.

If they charged that much, XenForo would go down in flames as virtually nobody would buy it. You could get three IPB licenses for that price and still have cash to spare.